Community Profile

A tale of two Gurnees

More than an amusement park and shopping mall

Jan Wilinski gkves her 9-year-old son, Bradley, some help with a bluegill he caught in a fishing derby at Hunt Club Park. (Darrell Goemaat/for the Tribune)

When a suburb is dominated by not just one but two mega-size destinations that draw out-of-state travelers, it might not occur to outsiders that people actually live there too. But Gurnee is much more than the giant amusement park and shopping mall that so many people have visited: It's home to more than 31,000, drawn there by affordable housing and a plethora of amenities.

That was the lure for the Keefe family, who moved here 13 years ago. They were living in Chicago at the time, but with a toddler already in the house and a baby on the way, they began to look to the suburbs. Quality education and affordability were their twin goals; their search led them to Lake County.

They looked at comparatively-priced houses in Libertyville, Gurnee's neighbor to the south. "But it would have been an existing home, maybe a slight fixer-upper," Tom Keefe recalls. "Gurnee was booming -- lots of new construction. We found we could get a brand-new house on a private cul-de-sac. We said, 'Let's go with that.' We didn't know much about Gurnee at the time other than what everyone knows, which is Gurnee Mills and Six Flags."

Kevin Novak had a similar experience when house-hunting six years ago with David, his partner of 26 years. They don't have any children, so schools weren't an issue, but they'd decided to move from Chicago to Lake County for the property-tax savings. "The bottom line was finding a house we could afford," Novak says. "We got a half-acre [lot in Gurnee] with gardens and a two- car attached garage . . . and space for the dogs, all for less money than we would've paid in the city for a townhouse with a tiny patio."

That's the story you hear repeatedly if you ask Gurnee residents why they moved here -- especially those who arrived during the big growth spurt of the 1990s. "I moved here in '92, with the influx of early residents in search of quality schools and affordable housing," says the village's current mayor, Kristina Kovarik. "When I moved here, the only grocery store we had was Piggly Wiggly and Gurnee Mills had only been open for a year." The village was really taking off then -- a long-term effect spurred by the arrival, in 1976, of then-owner Marriott's Great America amusement park. Although a far-flung suburb situated just 10 miles from the Wisconsin border, new businesses and residents began flocking here.

That boom had crested by the end of the Clinton years, in part because there just wasn't anywhere else for this 14-square-mile city to go. "We're pretty built out; we really don't have any big pieces of land left for development," Kovarik says. But the population is still growing, albeit more slowly: As of a special census in 2005, the village had 31,100 residents, and "we're probably a little bit more than that right now," the mayor notes.

Competitive prices keep Gurnee an attractive option for buyers today, says Betty Spiller, a real estate agent for 13 years with Koenig & Strey GMAC's Gurnee office. While more expensive than neighboring Waukegan to the east, young families continue to seek out Gurnee. As with anywhere today, the recession has slowed the market, though Spiller notes, "Within the past three weeks, there's been a step up. I think that's due to the stimulus package. A lot of first-time home buyers are stepping up to that plate: They can get that [incentive] money until Nov. 30."

In mid-July, 309 single-family homes were on the market in Gurnee, in the $189,000 to $289,000 range, Spiller says. "There are some really great buys right now -- a lot of foreclosures and short sales," she adds. "I just went and looked at a three-bedroom brick ranch in Gurnee. It's a foreclosure with a 2 1/2 -car garage. It's on the market for $95,000. Once it's fixed up, it will go for around $200 [thousand]."

In addition to the lure of reasonable taxes and well-rated school districts, Gurnee has one other major factor in its favor: location. Situated right along Interstate Highway 94, the village essentially occupies the midpoint between Chicago and Milwaukee. The cities are a 45-minute drive in either direction.

That dual proximity was an additional selling point for the Keefe family, and also for Novak and his partner. Still, most residents keep busy at home. "The park district is wonderfully run," says Kim Keefe, whose children are both in their teens now. "We have benefited tremendously from the expansion of the park district's programs," including dance classes and sports leagues. Meanwhile, Novak sings the praises of the library. "They have great DVDs and books on tape, and a great reading room and free wireless," he says. "And it's full all the time now," which he attributes to the recession.